Carpet is a common floor covering used in many businesses and residences. While well-made carpet is generally versatile and long-lasting, carpet waste nonetheless represents a growing concern in both private industry and governments. Carpet waste can include, for example, post consumer carpet, including commercial, industrial and residential waste carpet; manufacturing remnants; quality control failures, and the like. Waste carpet can be used carpet, e.g., carpet removed from an apartment complex, or unused carpet, e.g., residual carpet left from an installation or manufacturing process.
Unfortunately, most carpet waste is currently disposed of in landfills. While most estimates indicate that carpet waste constitutes only 1 to 2% of all municipal solid waste, this amount still represents a vast quantity of waste that can have a substantial economic and environmental impact. As a result, many in the industry have turned to carpet recycling as a solution to carpet waste. Recycling carpet, however, is difficult because its major components are chemically and physically diverse. Most carpets comprise about 20-50 weight percent face fiber, the remainder being backing materials, commonly polypropylene, and an adhesive which attaches the carpet fiber to the backing material. The adhesive typically comprises a carboxylated styrene-butadiene (XSB) latex copolymer, and inorganic filler like calcium carbonate.
Most carpet recycling methods to date have focused on recycling certain environmentally malignant constituents of carpet. Examples include polymers, such as nylon, and adhesive constituents found in waste carpet. However, little attention has been devoted to the various other constituents of carpet, such as inorganic filler. While such constituents may not present a direct environmental harm, they nonetheless represent a potential cost savings and a reduction in landfilling burden. If such materials could be reclaimed and recycled, the supply of such materials could be augmented, thereby reducing the burden to manufacture new materials. In addition, such broad-based recycling methods can also potentially help to comport with National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) 140/2007 recommendations, which encourage carpet industries to develop sustainable carpet manufacturing and recycling programs for social, economic, and environmental benefits. Accordingly, a need exists for new and improved methods for disposing of or recycling reclaimed carpet material. These needs and other needs are at least partially satisfied by the present invention.